1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved anti-counterfeit structure of a passport containing data of an individual, and a method for consistently manufacturing the same.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A passport is an official certificate issued to a person who wants to make a trip to foreign countries by an authority of the government of the country in which the person lives, certifying the nationality and social status of the person and soliciting the governments of the visiting foreign countries to render various benefits and protections required to the person. Because of the nature of the passport, it is vitally important that the passport is protected from being counterfeited.
In manufacturing a conventional passport, a so-called virgin passport having no data of an individual printed thereon is bound, and thereafter data of an individual, among other information, are printed on the passport already bound. That is, the step for binding a passport and the step for printing data of an individual, etc. are clearly performed separately.
More specifically, for manufacturing the conventional passport, as shown in FIG. 1, a data sheet I for printing thereon data of an individual and visa sheets 2 for stamping a seal verifying entry and exit from a certain country are combined together, the sheets 1 and 2 are bound with a thread using a sewing machine along a central folding line, and then a cover sheet is attached to the outer surface of the data sheet 1 thread-bound with the use of an adhesive agent. Reference numeral 4 denotes a binding thread. For protecting the data of an individual and protecting the passport against counterfeiting the data sheet 1 is attached to the inner surface of the cover sheet 3 with the use of an adhesive agent as above described, or a protective film 5 composed of a see-through synthetic resin film is laminated with an inner surface of a page of the data sheet 1 showing the data of an individual, instead of attaching the data sheet 1 to the cover sheet 3. The data of an individual are printed directly on the data sheet 1 or shown on the protective film to be laminated with the data sheet by printing or the like.
In binding the passport, the protective film 5 is preliminarily bound with a thread together with the sheets 1 and 2 and then laminated, or the protective film 5 is bound without being preliminarily bound with a thread and laminated after the data of an individual are printed. From the view-point of workability, it is mostly practiced that a virgin passport obtained by binding the protective film 5 together with other sheets is prepared and then the data of an individual are printed thereon.
More specifically, the protective film 5 has an area large enough to fully cover the individual's data printing page. The protective film 5 is provided at one end edge of the protective film 5 with a thread-binding width 5a extending to the surface of the guttering portion of the data sheet 1 beyond the central folding line (thread-binding line) Y. The thread-binding width 5a is bound together with the other sheets 1 and 2 by the binding thread 4 and then, the cover sheet 3 is bonded to the outer surface of the data sheet 1.
That is, a virgin passport is prepared by binding the data sheet 1, the visa sheet 2 and the protective film 5 with the binding thread 4 and attaching the cover sheet 3 to the outer surface of the data sheet 1 by an adhesive agent during one binding process. Then, as shown in FIG. 2(A), data of an individual are printed on the surface of the data sheet 1 or the surface (surface opposite the data sheet) of the protective film 5 of the virgin passport thus bound by a printing machine 6. After the data of an individual are printed, as shown in FIG. 2(B), the preliminarily bound protective film 5 is placed on the surface of the data sheet 1 and then laminated by a hot plate or high frequency bonding means 7.
This method for laminating the protective film 5 with the surface of the individual's data printing page of the data sheet 1 is effective as an anti-counterfeit countermeasure and therefore, practiced in almost all countries.
However, the employment of this conventional method for preparing a virgin passport obtained by preliminarily thread-binding the protective film 5 in one binding process, printing the data of an individual thereon and then laminating the protective film 5 thereon necessarily makes it impossible to laminate, as shown in FIGS. 2(C) and 2(D), the thread-binding width 5a of the protective film 5 with the surface of the gutter portion of the data sheet 1 in the area S1 including the thread-binding line Y and tucked up along one side of the protective film 5.
That is, the protective film 5 forms a laminated area S2 from the line apart from the thread binding line Y to a front end edge of the data sheet and forms a non-laminated area S1 at the thread-binding width 5a including the thread-binding line Y. The formation of the non-laminated area S1 adversely affects the anti-counterfeit countermeasure.
Also, the area for printing the data of an individual thereon is limited, and it is practically impossible to print data of an individual and some anti-counterfeit information on the area S1 including the thread-binding line Y.
In case the protective film 5 is preliminarily thread-bound together with other sheets and then laminated, the protective film 5, as shown in FIG. 3, is displaced and/or inclined in a planar direction. This causes an end edge of the film to be expanded and/or the data surface to be exposed.
Furthermore, when the passport is double-folded along the central folding line (thread-binding line), the thread-binding width 5a of the protective film 5 is deformed into a generally U-shape from the thread-binding line and interposed in that deformed state between the visa sheet 2 and the cover sheet 3. Accordingly, a pushing-up force is normally applied to the sheets 2 and 3 by the spring effect of the U-shaped thread-binding width 5a. In addition, as previously mentioned, in order that the thread-binding width 5a is not laminated at the area S1 including the thread-binding line Y, the pushing-up force caused by the U-shaped thread-binding width 5a normally applies to the binding thread 4 as a tensile force. At the same time, a rubbing repeatedly occurs between the binding thread 4 and the thread-binding width 5a through which the binding thread 4 extends every time the passport is opened and closed. This causes expansion and decrease of strength of the binding thread 4.
The problems described above all indicate that the protective film 5 inherently has many problems to be solved as an anti-counterfeit countermeasure.
Moreover, since the conventional method separately includes the step for preliminarily binding a virgin passport in which a protective film is bound and the step for printing the data of an individual on this virgin passport and laminating the same, it takes a long time to issue a passport and the cost for making a passport is increased. Thus, rationalization of the passport issuing system is demanded.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above problems.